Classic X-Files: I Want To Believe

This officially wraps up my loooong series of X-Files related posts. I realize that the X-Files is out of the purview of this blog. However, as my favorite television show, and a show that has always made me think, I felt it appropriate to go ahead and do all of these posts. So, I’m glad you have suffered through.

Speaking of suffering through, last Friday (July 25), Chris Carter & co. released what will probably be the last X-Files movie: X-Files: I Want To Believe. Why do I think it will be the last? Well, the box office results aren’t looking great so far.

I Want To Believe is an okay movie. Actually, it has some stuff to recommend it. It’s a tight thriller (only 104 minutes long) without a single explosion or gun shot. In fact, the special effects for this film probably could have been done back in the 1950s without any issue whatsoever. I like that. That is one of the reason I like the first three Indiana Jones pictures — old school special effects.

Unfortunately, I Want To Believe does not have the greatest plot ever. The story is less an X-File and more a rumination on the complex relationship between Mulder and Scully many years after their FBI days. As such, it’s kind of boring. I suspect that this would have made a great two-part episode for the small screen, but as a feature length film, it is not terribly exciting. When you hold it up next to the other X-Files movie (Fight the Future), it is not nearly as exhilirating, nor is it as important to the overall X-Files storyline. This keeps it from being a “must-see.”

That being said, for the true X-Files fan (the X-Phile), there is much to recommend this film. Heck, anytime Mulder and Scully are on screen together, you’ve got to be excited. Billy Connolly also turns in a nice performance as recovering pedophile priest Father Joe. While Connolly and Duchovny do a fine job, it seems that Gillian Anderson had some difficulty getting back into character, something she had admitted. There were even times when her voice did not sound like Scully’s. Still, the chemistry is there, and that’s why a lot of us watch, right?

If you’re an X-Files fan, I’d give this movie a 4 out of 5. If you’re not, I’d probably give it a 2 out of 5.

Stay tuned through the credits for what might be the dumbest credit sequence in the history of film!